Saturday, October 6

Considering its distance from Istanbul, getting to Sabiha Gochen was quite easy. Unlike Ataturk, Sabiha is only served via bus, but once you know which to get the service is efficient (and cheap!) enough to be a pleasant experience.

A short flight later and I was in Baku, Azerbaijan.

It was meeting an Azeri friend in my last workplace which convinced me to try a country I had otherwise never really had an interest in seeing. It also made a convenient enough place for my travelling companion for the next week or so and I to meet and ease into the Iran leg proper, while also acting as a bonus place to check out while in the area.

Unfortunately for whatever reason it was quite the hassle getting into our accommodation situated on Nizami Street - that killed a fair few daylight hours which was annoying. Still, we managed to salvage the evening as we spent it walking around Fountain Square and the along the Promenade - constantly reminding ourselves that we were looking at the Caspian Sea and not the open ocean. It's a fascinating sight to experience.

So far our impressions were very positive and I'm looking very much forward to the next couple of days here.